A resurgence with the Mount Douglas secondary cross country program, now up to 30 runners, could end Oak Bay High’s streak as the top team at the Island championships next week.
The Island's high school cross country championships are at Beaver Lake Park on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
“In the past few years we’d have a couple of entries, down to three just two years ago. Now we’re up to 30 kids, something we haven’t seen for a long time.”
Seniors Caleigh Bachop (Grade 11) and Katelyn Hayward (Grade 12) lead the Mt. Doug girls team along with Grade 9 phenom Farisha Arnensen. Each of the three won a race for Mt. Doug during the school racing season, as have seniors Tyler Norman and Thomas Getty.
Helping the cause is a number of crossover athletes from Mt. Doug's other sports.
Connor Foreman (Claremont) and Brittany King (Spectrum) won the Island Gr. 11 and 12 title at Beaver Lake on Tuesday, with Erik Evan (Reynolds) winning the Gr. 10 boys title and Nanaimo's Brittany King topping all Gr. 10 girls. Neither of Mt. Doug's star Gr. 12s Tyler Norman and Katelyn Hayward ran the Age Grade championships.
Gr. 9 girls (4-km)
1 Farisha Areunsen Mt. Douglas 2 Morgan Roskelly Oak Bay 3 Tkia King NDSS 4 Abby Gilchrist NDSS 5 Tatianna Haggard John Stubbs
Gr. 9 boys (4-km)
1 Joel Taylor Mt. Douglas 2 Ethan Getty Mt. Douglas 3 Chris Branting Mt. Prevost 4 Hamish Babin Claremont 5 Mohand Khouider Mt. Douglas
Gr. 10 girls (4-km)
1 Miryam Bassett NDSS 2 Megan Kinghorn Spectrum 3 Erica Deschiffert Nan. Christian 4 Chloe Heglund Parkland 5 Annina Lorenzo Stelly’s
Gr. 10 boys (4-km)
1 Erik Evan Reynolds 2 Graham Walker Claremont 3 Ole Borch Brentwood 4 Scott Jones Stelly’s 5 Brian Hinds St. Andrew's
Senior girls (Grade 11 & 12) (4-km)
1 Brittany King Spectrum 2 Andrea Lyon Francis Kelsey3 Caleigh Bachop Mt. Douglas4 Carly O'Sullivan NDSS5 Maddie Secco Oak Bay
Senior boys (Grade 11 & 12) (6-km)
1 Connor Foreman Claremont 2 Liam Maguire Claremont 3 Joel DeSchiffart Nan. Christian4 Thomas Getty Mt. Douglas 5 Ben Weir Glenlyon